


Making Our Escape

by heartequals (savvygambols)



Category: Paradise - Coldplay (Music Video)
Genre: Friends! - Freeform, Gen, Humanoid Animals, Regular Animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 18:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/600970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvygambols/pseuds/heartequals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clara, an elephant, dreams of escaping the Zoo. But she can't do it alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Our Escape

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lizardbeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizardbeth/gifts).



> Thanks to Lydia for the moral support, Missy for the delicious candy, and Coldplay for the great music video. The title is from Coldplay's "Death and All His Friends."

“I want to escape,” Clara announced one morning, once she was sure that the Guards were out of earshot. She came to the edge of her cage and waved at her Zoomate, Theron, who lay in a patch of sun in the cage across from hers. “I’m going to leave the Zoo.”

Theron raised his head and looked at her sleepily.

“Well?” said Clara.

Theron held up one of his paws and began examining his nails. “That’s a terrible idea.” He yawned, sharp teeth gleaming in the sunlight. “Just wait it out.”

“Don’t you want to escape too?” she said. She kicked the side of her cage. “You’ve been here for years now, don’t you want to leave?”

“Not really,” said Theron. “I’ve got food, water, shelter.” He shook his great head, mane ruffling. “I don’t like it here, but it could be worse.”

“Theron, stop getting her down,” said Erik, another Zoomate and her neighbor to the left. He hung off one of the bars in his cage with one arm, swinging himself back and forth. “If she wants to try to escape, let her try to escape.” He grinned. “It’s not like she’ll succeed.”

“Don’t be horrible, Erik,” said Clara. “I just need to leave. I need to get out of here.”

Clara had been in the Zoo too long -- about three months or so. Sure, she wasn’t Theron, who was stuck in the Zoo for the next ten years, but then, she hadn’t tried to steal a car like Theron either. All she’d done was ignore multiple noise complaints from her boring Human neighbors. The judge had sentenced her to four years in the Zoo just for singing too loudly.

“What if I succeed?” she said, pressing her face up against the metal bars that kept her in her cage. She stuck her trunk out Theron. “I’ll get you out too.”

“You won’t have time for that,” said Erik. He swung himself up again with both arms and jumped to the side of his cage, the side that he shared with Clara. “If you get out, you better run like you’ve never run before. The Guards will catch you otherwise.”

“You better think this one through,” said Theron. He stood up and stretched. “I’m going back to bed.”

Bed was a pile of straw no more than ten feet away from where he was already laying. He turned his back to Clara and Erik and went to sleep.

“Lazy bones,” said Erik. “He hasn’t been up for more than an hour.”

Clara sat down with her back against the wall. Erik hung upside down and made faces at her.

“It’s just, I had this dream,” she sighed.

“Yeah?” said Erik.

“It was wonderful,” said Clara. She tipped her head against the wall, taking care not to fold her large ears in the process. “I was back with my band and we were famous. Erik, we were the most famous band in the world. We sang to audiences so big that I couldn’t even see all their faces! And they sang back at us. Everyone was so happy -- me, my band, the audience. You and Theron were there, watching us from the side of the stage. You were happy too. We were all singing and dancing and...happy.”

“It sounds nice,” said Erik. He executed a perfect backflip from one bar to another.

“It was the most wonderful dream I ever had,” said Clara. “I want it to come true, Erik. That’s why I have to get out.”

“Hmm,” said Erik. He sat on a bar and looked down at Clara. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely,” she said.

He nodded. “Good luck. I’m going back to bed.” He swung off, away from her towards his bed at the top of his cage.

Clara made another mark on her wall. She counted the lines. It had been 180 days since she’d last seen her band. She sighed. How was she going to escape? She couldn’t unlock the lock that held her cage door closed, not with her big hands and feet. Theron could probably bite the lock off or Erik could probably pick it, but they were both too far away.

Erik gave a loud snore and Theron growled in his sleep. Erik and Theron were the only friends Clara had in the Zoo. If she wanted to escape, she would need their help.

Clara stood up and started to run around her cage. She was trying to stay active in the Zoo and anyway, there was nothing else to do. She sang a running song to accompany herself but it only made her miss her band more.

I’ll get out, she thought to herself. I have to.

 

;;

 

She was on the middle of her of 454th lap around her cage when she noticed the Guards walking down the aisle with a large Ostrich. “Erik,” she said, rattling the bars of the cage wall that they shared. “Erik, wake up! Someone’s coming. Theron!”

Erik swung down from his bed and Theron gave a huge snort as he woke. They watched as the Guards deposited the Ostrich in the cage next to Theron’s. “Enjoy your new home, sweetheart,” said Guard #1. “Get yourself nice and cosy - you’ll be here awhile.”

The Ostrich held her head high as she walked into her cage. Guard #1 slammed the door shut behind her and walked off whistling.

“So,” said Theron, ambling up to the cage wall that they shared. “What’s your name? What’re you in for?”

“My name’s Vive,” said the Ostrich. “I tried to steal a motorbike.”

Theron looked delighted. “I tried to steal a car!” He grinned at her. “Welcome to the Zoo!”

“I’ve been here for two years,” Vive informed him. “They just moved me from another quarter.”

“What’d you do?”

“I tried to start an uprising but the Guards caught wind of my plans and moved me. Quieter over here, they said. Hmph! As if I won’t try to convince you three to leave this horrible place with me.” Vive began kicking the straw in her cage into the shape of a nest.

“An uprising?” said Erik. “Hey, this one’s been talking about escape all day! You two will get along just fine.”

“Oh really?” Vive craned her neck towards Clara. “What’s your name?”

“Clara.” Clara felt shy around the ostrich. She was beautiful, regal even, and she’d tried to start an uprising! Clara thought only of escape for herself and her friends.

“What are you in for, Clara?”

“My neighbors thought I was too noisy,” she said. “I’m in a band. I sing all the time.”

“She does,” said Erik. He was hanging upside down with his feet wrapped around the top bar of his cage. “But her trying to escape pointless and we’re trying to talk her out of it. Might as well wait it out, right?”

“Never wait when you can do, that’s what I say,” said Vive. She sat down in her new nest. “I’m not going to wait for another seven years to get out of here either.”

 

;;

 

Lunch came with the usual fanfare -- that is, the Guards threw their food on the floor in front of them and walked off, laughing. Clara pawed at the rotten vegetables. She didn’t feel like eating today. Her heart still hurt at the thought of her dream.

Vive nipped at the stale birdseed they’d given her. “Aren’t you hungry?”

“I just want to make my dream come true,” said Clara. She had spent all morning explaining her dream to Vive and Theron.

Theron took a bite of his dry steak. “Sing us a song?” he said with his mouth full. “Maybe that will make you feel better.”

Clara sang her Paradise song. She and her band had written one day when they were all very sad and it always made them feel better when they played it. In her dream, they were playing the song when they were on stage.

Vive, Theron, and Erik clapped appreciatively when she finished. “You really do have a lovely voice,” said Erik. He jumped on the fence next to her. “Can I have your vegetables?

Clara pushed her vegetables towards him. She had to get out. She had to!

 

;;

 

“Guess who’s got a letter,” said Guard #2. He waved the envelope at Clara. “Didn’t know you could read.”

“Of course I can read,” she said. “Can’t you?”

“Don’t be daft,” said Guard #2, smirking. “Of course I can read.”

“Well, so can we,” she said.

“Tell that to Fluffy over here,” said Guard #2, gesturing at Theron. He sneered. “He can’t read a word.”

“Yeah, but I can eat you,” said Theron. He roared. “I can eat you!”

Clara jumped and Erik fell off a bar. Vive squawked. Guard #2 shoved the letter through the bars of Clara’s cage and hurried away.

Erik rolled around on the floor, cackling. “I love it when you do that,” he wheezed. “Do it again? Make him think you’re still mad, it’ll scare the pants off him.”

Theron roared even more loudly than before. Erik pounded the floor with his tiny fists, crying with laughter. Vive shook her head, feathers ruffled. Theron raised his head high, looking smug. “What a kitten that Guard is,” he said. “So easily scared, just like a newborn. You okay, Clara?”

Clara nodded. “I can teach you to read,” she said, picking up her letter.

“I can read,” said Theron. He sat back on his haunches. “I just pretend not to.”

“Why?” asked Clara. She pawed at the edges of the envelope, trying to open it.

“The dumber the Guards think I am, the easier it is to scare them,” said Theron. He let out a huge roar again, one that rattled the bars of Clara’s cage. Clara dropped her envelope. “Stop!” she said. “They’ll come back!”

“Really, you’ve got to stop,” Erik giggled. “You’re too much.”

“Quiet down there!” yelled a Guard. “One more roar outta you and you’ll regret it!”

“This horrible place,” muttered Vive.

Erik giggled again. Theron yawned. Clara picked up her letter and stuck it through the mesh bars that separated Erik’s cage from hers. “Erik, can you open this for me?” Her hands and feet were too big to open the envelope without ripping the letter too.

“With pleasure,” he said. He opened the envelope and passed it back to her. “Read it aloud?”

She sat down on the ground. Theron came to the edge of his cage and stuck his nose between the bars. Neither him nor Erik had ever received a letter. Vive came to the front of her cage and peered out of it.

“ _Dear Clara_ ,” she read. “ _How are you? We miss you so much! It’s just not the same practicing without you. We’ve been working on new songs but they’ll be nowhere near done until we can get your beautiful voice to finish them_.”

“Aw,” said Erik.

“You do have a beautiful voice,” said Theron. “Go on.”

“ _We hope the Zoo isn’t too bad. We hear the most awful stories about the Zoo, but we’re sure they’re not true and anyway, you’re the most resilient Elephant we know. Please take care of yourself. We think of you every day. Love, your band._ ”

“That’s a nice letter,” said Erik. “I was beginning to think your band was made up.”

“Of course they’re real!” said Clara. She threw her letter down on the ground in frustration. “Don’t you see? I need to leave! I need to see my band!”

“Calm down,” Erik began, but Vive interrupted him. “We’ll get you out of here,” she said. “One way or another, we’ll get you out of here.”

“How?” said Clara. She shook the bars of her cage. “I can’t just break through the bars of the cage.”

“Break the lock then,” said Theron.

Clara waved her big hands and feet at him.

“Do you have a stick? You could smash it.”

“No.” Sticks were considered weapons in the Zoo. A small branch fell into her cage once and she’d been evacuated for six hours while they removed it. Her cage was completely free of any kind of plants except overgrown grass.

“My branch is chipping,” said Erik. “Maybe you could pick the lock with a splinter!”

He swung up to the only wooden branch in his cage. “It might take me awhile,” he said, scratching at the branch. “Read your letter again?”

Clara picked up her letter and smiled.

 

;;

 

Erik pulled a splinter loose right before dinner. “Got it!” he shouted happily. “Clara!”

“Got what?” said Guard #1, coming down the corridor “What’s that you’ve got?”

“Er,” said Erik. “I got a bit of wood in my hand and I, er, got it out. It’s out now, not to worry. Can I have extra vegetables?”

Guard #1 snorted. “You wish.” He tossed Clara’s fruit on the floor in front of her and walked off, but not before giving them a backwards glance.

“He knows we’re up to something,” Theron said, watching the retreating Guard.

Erik jumped down to the ground and pushed the splinter through the cage. “Try it!” he said.

Clara fumbled with the splinter -- her hands were too big for something so delicate. Still, she managed to get it into the lock and wiggled it around before it broke off completely.

“Oh,” she said sadly.

Erik picked up some of his food and threw it at the far end of his cage with a groan. The Animal on the other side hissed at him and Erik swung himself up with a growl.

“Erik, no!” she said, but Erik was already at the other end of his cage, presumably picking a fight. She’d never met the Animal on the other side of Erik’s cage but she knew they didn’t get along.

She picked up a soggy apple and bit into it. She stared at the lock. She needed something bigger and stronger than her, something to smash the lock open. Like a rock!

She stood up and ran around her cage, looking for a rock. But rocks, like branches, were considered weapons and the floor of her cage was completely smooth. Dejected, she sat back down to dinner. Theron chewed meditatively on his rotten meat. “I heard the Snakes have rocks,” he said. “Maybe you could get one from them.”

“And how is she supposed to do that?” Vive asked. “Snakes don’t ever leave their cages, not even for exercise time.”

Exercise time was when the larger animals got to play out in a field together. The Big Cats, the Big Birds, and other large Animals were on a rotating schedule. There weren’t enough Elephants in the Zoo for them to get their own exercise time and so Clara was let out into the field only occasionally without advance warning and was usually all by herself.

“No,” said Theron, “But we do. Vive, we could ask around, see if anyone knows a snake and could sneak a rock through to Clara!”

“How would they sneak a rock back to us?” said Clara. “Vive said they don’t get their own exercise time.”

“But they do share cage walls like the rest of us. Maybe they could, I don’t know, sneak it through fence the way you and Erik share food.” Theron lifted one huge paw and scratched his mane. “It could work. We just need a Snake.”

“A Snake?” said Erik. He swung down to the floor. “I hate Snakes. Do you know what the Snake on the other side of my cage just called me? An armpit-sniffer!”

“You share a wall with a Snake?” Vive, Theron, and Clara all asked.

“Yeah?” said Erik. “So what?”

Clara told him their plan. Erik brightened. “I saw tons of rocks in the Snake’s cage. He suns himself on them.”

“Will he give me one?” Clara asked. “If I get out, I could get you all out too!”

“I could ask,” said Erik. “But it’ll cost you. He’ll probably want something in return.” He swung himself up again and then climbed back down, grabbing a strawberry from Clara. “Peace offering,” he explained and climbed back up.

Clara looked around. Vive was gone and Theron was picking at a bone. “Where’d Vive go?” she asked.

“To talk to her Zoomate on the other side of her cage. She wants to help convince the Snake that lives next to Erik.” Theron flicked the bone to a corner of his cage. “Clara, if you get out...just leave me here, okay? Don’t waste time trying to get me out too.”

“But Theron,” she protested. “I don’t want to leave you here. All by yourself for years in this horrible place. You didn’t even commit a crime!”

“I’ve been in worse situations,” said Theron. “I’ll be fine, really. I just don’t want you to get stuck back in here because of me.”

“Are you sure?” Clara asked.

“Positive,” said Theron. “Remember me when you get out, okay?”

“I will,” she promised. She stuck her arm through the cage and reached out - he did the same. They could only barely touch paw to hand but it was enough. “I’ll find you when you get out. You can join my band, be a roadie for us or something.”

“Deal,” said Theron with a smile.

 

;;

 

Hours passed before Vive and Erik returned. “Jeremiah says he’ll do it,” Erik announced.

“Lady’ll help,” Vive added. “She’s a Camel in the cage next to mine. She thinks that if Jeremiah pushes the rock through the front bars of his cage with his head, she can help bump it down the corridor to me or Erik. Then it’s just a matter getting it to you!”

Clara’s heart soared at the thought of freedom. “Really? They can do that?” She tried to stop herself from grinning. “Who’s Jeremiah?”

“Jeremiah’s the Snake,” said Erik. “And don’t look too kindly on him yet. It’ll cost you. He won’t do it out of the goodness of his heart. He wants something from you.”

“Like what?” Clara didn’t have much to give - she could save up her rotten food, maybe. All she had was her letter and her chalk and she didn’t think a Snake would care much for either of those.

“He wants you to get him out and he wants a song,” said Erik. “I told him you’re a singer and he wants a song.”

“I can do that,” Clara said. “Me and my band -- we’ll write him the best song he’ll ever hear! It’ll be all over the radio!”

Vive laughed. Erik clapped. “It’s settled.” He reached through the bars and they shook hands as best they could. “I’ll tell him.”

 

;;

 

It wasn’t until late at night that they were able to get the rock out of Jeremiah’s cage. Clara was almost asleep when she heard the rock sliding across the corridor, inch by inch. “Erik?” she whispered.

“No, me,” Vive answered. “Jeremiah couldn’t push the rock through to Erik so he pushed it over to Lady.” The rock moved another inch. It made a rough, scratching noise and it broke up the quiet of the night. Clara shivered. If the Guards found out, they were all lost. They’d be split up and punished for sure.

The rock moved another inch. Clara heard Theron shake himself awake. “How close are you to me?” he said in a Lion’s approximation of a whisper.

“A couple more feet,” said Vive.

Clara sat down at the front of her cage and peered into the darkness. If she strained hard, she could just see Vive’s neck darting between the bars of her cage, moving the rock with her head.

What I’ll do, Clara thought, is smash open Erik’s cage first once I’m out. Then he can help pick the locks. And then I break the lock on Vive’s cage and she can rally everyone together while Erik and I get everyone else on the corridor free. We’ll be unstoppable then.

She looked at Theron’s cage. I’ll break his lock too, she decided. Just in case he changes his mind.

She watched Vive duck down and push the rock. Vive pushed too hard, however, and the rock skittered forward just between her and Theron’s cages.

“Hey down there!” yelled Guard #2. “Quiet down!”

Vive pushed the rock in front of Theron’s cage and it clattered off the side before Theron grabbed it and pulled it close. Clara heard the Guard’s footsteps down the hall. “Theron!” she hissed, reaching through the bars. “Now!”

Theron reached through and batted the rock across the corridor. Clara grabbed and hid the rock behind her just as Guard #2 came stomping in. “Didn’t you hear me telling you to be quiet?” he shouted. “Be QUIET!”

He shined his light around. Clara backed up until she was sitting on the rock. Guard #2 grunted. “You’ve earned yourself an all-night watch,” he announced. He crossed his arms. “Sleep tight.”

There was no hope of escape tonight, not with the Guard watching them all night. Clara backed as far away as she could from the Guard, curled up around her rock, and tried to fall asleep.

 

;;

 

In the morning, the Guard was gone but Clara had overslept. Her breakfast lay on the ground in front of her. Clara sat up straight and found herself grinning. “Erik?” she asked.

“Right here,” he said. “Where else would I be?”

“Ready?” she said. She picked up her rock.

“Ready for what?” said a nasty voice coming from down the hall. “You folks have been awfully busy lately.”

It was the Guards walking down the corridor.

“Go!” screamed Erik, swinging from one end of his cage to the other. He shook the bars that separated him and Clara. “Clara, now!”

She smashed her rock against the lock and it sprang open. The lock clattered to the floor and the Guards broke into a run.

“Run!” screamed Erik. “Run, you’ve got to run!”

“What about you?” she cried. She picked up the rock and prepared to break open his cage. “I’m not leaving you!”

“There’s no time!” Vive shouted. “You must run! Quickly!”

The Guards were almost to the end of the corridor. Desperately, Clara threw the rock to Theron, who caught it. “Run, Clara!” he said. “Don’t worry about us!”

Clara took off. “I’ll write a song about you!” she shouted over her shoulder. “I’ll write a song about all of you!”

“Go!” her friends yelled. “Run!”

She ran away as fast as she could and didn’t look back. Over the noise of the Guards yelling and chasing her, she could just hear the sound of another lock shattering and a Lion’s roar.

“Come and catch me!” she shouted. The Guards didn’t pause for a minute. Another lock shattered in the distance and she heard Erik hoot with delight.

Clara smiled and kept running.


End file.
